


A Song for the Stars

by jaldon



Category: Star Wars (Marvel Comics), Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Lullabies, possibly canon divergent, warning i've never read the non-poe star wars comics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-23 19:15:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13196769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaldon/pseuds/jaldon
Summary: The galaxy sings. Poe Dameron knows this.





	A Song for the Stars

**Author's Note:**

> hello! i really wanted to write something based on songs/poems that Shara Bey might have sung to Poe. i used two existing songs, the first (and main) one is the Wexford Lullaby by John Renbourn, the second is a segment of the poem The Old Astronomer by Sarah Williams set to tune by Joseph Haydn. thanks to athena for reading and giving advice.

The galaxy sings. Poe Dameron knows this.  
  
The galaxy sings a thousand songs that all combine into one tapestry of stories. The galaxy sings for a mother who has lost her child, and a man alone in space, and a brother who sits alone at a table meant for a family. The galaxy sings of pilots and soldiers, Jedi and Sith, empires and rebels. The galaxy weaves tales of sorrow and hope, and it wails and screams and whispers and sings.  
  
The songs are not kind. The songs are beautiful, and yet, the songs destroy. There are years and years of pain, death, battles between enemies and friends.  The songs are a prophecy and a condemnation and a tale as old as time.  
  
Poe Dameron knows this.  
  
He does not trust the songs in the way that you don’t trust wild animals: they are beautiful, yes, but they are wild. Get too close and you are done for.  
  
Of course, the universe is not alone in its singing- the trees and animals and homes and houses and ships and stations and weapons and shields and _people_ all sing. The subjects of the cruel songs of the galaxy sing their own songs, a weapon against them becomes an art that they reclaim.  
  
***  
  
Shara Bey was once a girl, a young rebel with fire in her veins, and that girl hates the empire with a passion. Before sleep, she sings a vow to the stars that she will end the regime that has killed her parents, taken her to a system far from home, forces her to do their work for them. She sings a vow, silent, electric, and coursing through her body. The stars are her only friends, and she sings for them and them alone.  
  
When Shara is fifteen, she sees a man leave his cruiser on the docking bay where she is forced to work unattended. When Shara is fifteen, she sees a man gone for just a moment, and in that moment she _makes a decision_. When Shara is fifteen, she steals a ship. (She does not know how to pilot it.) When Shara is fifteen, she sings herself a song to quiet the harsh beating of her heart in her chest as she flies away and doesn’t look back.  
  
(She crash lands the next day on Jakku.)  
  
(The ship is damaged irreparably.)  
  
(She steals another one.)  
  
Shara Bey who has fire in her veins looks until she finds the rebellion. The rebellion is in hiding, yes, but they are in need of assistance. Shara Bey who has fire in her veins joins them, and learns, and becomes, and flies for them. She sings a prayer to the stars every time she gets into her x-wing, and sings a silent thank you every time she gets out.  
  
Her songs are the pulsing of blood through her body, the sounds of her feet hitting the ground, the groans and sighs and breaths she takes. Her songs say: _I am still here. I am still alive._  
  
Shara Bey who has fire in her veins is a talented pilot, far more than most. She rises in the ranks and the rebel alliance, commanding the respect of all who know her. Lieutenant Shara Bey makes allies in the rebellion, but more importantly, friends. In the ice of Hoth and the cramped months on freighters hurtling through the galaxy, she falls in love.  
  
Shara Bey and Kes Dameron get married in the midst of a war because they might not have a chance later because they are overflowing with love for each other. After the Galactic Civil War is over, after there is peace once more, they move to Yavin 4.  
  
When Shara realizes that she is pregnant, she sings to her swollen stomach _I love you I will never leave you_. She knows by now not to make promises that she can’t keep, but for a moment, she can’t help herself.  
  
When she sees her boy for the first time, she sings a prayer to the stars who have always been her friends: _please, keep him safe. Love him like he is a child of your own. Keep my baby safe._  
  
The stars blink back. For now, it is enough.  
  
Shara Bey who has fire in her veins is now a mother, and she realizes there is something else there: blood. She is real, she is here, she is human, she is alive. She will not let her son get hurt, and she will keep the fire going but tend it carefully. It will never hurt anyone who doesn’t deserve it.  
  
_The fire is more powerful than ever._  
  
***

Poe Dameron is born in the midst of a war. He is loved by his parents more than either of them were loved as children, and yet. He is left with his mother’s father, far away from the epic dogfights of the Galactic Civil War. 

His years as a baby are mostly without his mother and father, but the stars sing him to sleep, reminding him that he is not alone. 

***

Little Poe Dameron grows up in a world full of song.  
  
For the formative years of his life, he is happy and lucky. There is peace, following the downfall of the empire, and he enjoys it, not even knowing how quickly it will fall away. Poe Dameron has a loving mother and father who sing to him, and fly with him on their laps, and tell him stories.  
  
The force tree, gifted to his mother by Luke Skywalker himself, sings tales older than time. It tells of beings with more power than a thousand, who can manipulate the fabric of the galaxy itself and fight with swords of light. It tells of love and loss and the force that holds the galaxy together, and the times when it has nearly been ripped apart.  
  
Poe Dameron does not trust the force. Believe in it? Yes. But he does not trust it. (Perhaps this is wise. Perhaps not.) The tree, however, has never let him down, and he continues to listen to its songs as he climbs.  
  
The stars sing to Poe. (He does not know that this is special.) The stars sing: _come join us. Leave the ground. Fly._ He wants to- as the years go by the beckoning of the sky, the infinite, immortal sky, becomes stronger. Some nights, he steals away and sits in his mother’s old A-Wing, silently touching each button, notch, and switch. His mother is teaching him to fly, and he cherishes each moment on board her ship.  
  
Shara Bey sings to Poe as well. She had no one to sing to her, but she knows the songs are important. She sings lullabies at night, softly easing him into the world of dreams. She sings _Lulay, lulay my tiny child, too soon you’ll know the world so wild_. She knows there is nothing to stop it, so she sings to him. Her son falls asleep before she is finished so she sings the end of the song to the stars. Her husband listens, always.  
  
***  
  
Shara Bey realizes she is going to die before it happens. To no one in particular, she pleads _but please I have a son, he’s a child, without me..._ and realizes: he will have to live on. She did, and he must.  
  
She pleads no longer.  
  
For a long time, Shara thinks about her life. She thinks about the songs she has sung, some of them her own, many of them not. _That isn’t the point_ she realizes. It doesn’t matter. Her songs were always there for her, and she spread them to others, and the songs moved on. But she cherishes them. Her birth, her life, her death are all the same in the end. Except. The songs, they will always be there.  
  
She doesn’t tell anyone what she knows, save the stars. Her final request to them: _keep my son safe. Sing to him when I cannot. Love him like I have loved you. This is all I ask of you, for a lifetime of songs given. He will love you back. This I know. This I know. This I know._  
  
One final lullaby to Poe, the same one she sings him night in and night out: _when at last your course is run, joy of my joy, my little sun, beneath the sky you’ll stand alone, flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone. Yes, you shall stand on the coal-black sands, to cross o’er the waters of the Western lands. But now I have you at my breast. Lulay my sweet one, gently rest._  
  
She dies, gently. There is no blood spilt or fire extinguished. Her fire burns still in her son.  
  
***  
  
Poe Dameron is eight when his mother dies, eight when he is left with a broken heart and condolences. He lives still in Yavin-4, and he visits the tree more often. He asks: _do I have the force? Do I have the power to manipulate that galaxy and bring my mother back?_ The tree answers: _no. Perhaps, it is for the better that you do not. But you have the stars._  
  
Poe Dameron asks the stars: _will you protect me?_  
  
The stars blink back. It is enough.  
  
Poe, who has flown on his mother’s lap more than many pilots have flown on their own, does not settle for the stars’ protection. Like his mother, he flies. He goes to the academy, and when that is not enough, he turns to the rebellion. (A new threat has risen from the ashes of the empire. Some days he is glad his mother did not have to live to see it.)  
  
When he flies missions for General Organa, the stars sing: _this is what is prophesied. This is the legacy of your mother and father. Try as you might, but you will always end up there. And you will always, always, be here._  
  
Poe Dameron, the best pilot in the resistance, survives more battles than, perhaps, he should. His mother’s songs in his mind, and fire in his blood, overpower a shot from a First Order vessel. It’s not luck, though. He saves his own skin, every time. The stars watch, and they think about Shara Bey who had fire in her veins, and they twinkle a little bit brighter.  
  
Poe doesn’t know where, but he picks up a habit of singing a thank you (to who, he doesn’t know) every time he lands.  
  
***  
  
Sometimes, songs are the only place Poe can turn. He is on his own, against TIE-fighter after TIE-fighter. The world disappears. It’s just him and the stars. He is vicious, powerful, a force of nature behind his control panel. BB-8 whistles a tune- a tune that is words that is assistance and guidance and friendly mockery.  
  
He takes down the TIE-fighters, but in return he is damaged too.  
  
Controls: minimal.  
  
Communications: gone.  
  
There is a piece of metal piercing his leg, holding him where he is, causing blood to leak out of his body. If he does not get back to base soon, he will die of blood loss. Even if he wasn’t bleeding, Oxygen and water aren’t endless.  
  
“How are we looking, Buddy?”  
  
“I am trying to get the control systems back online. We took a big hit,” BB-8 whistles back.  
  
He presses his head back. “You can say that again.”  
  
There’s nothing to do, and his leg hurts. He starts to hum, and then he’s singing: _though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light; I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night._ _  
_  
He doesn’t remember learning the song, but it feels right. In his head, he hears his mother singing the song. _Yes_ , he thinks, _this is right_.  
  
The stars listen, and all around him, they sing a solemn reply. BB-8 gets the systems back online and the pair speeds back to D’Qar.  
  
***  
  
When Poe Dameron is captured by the first order he knows: the galaxy’s songs are cruel, merciless, unstoppable.  
  
He hears the death of hundreds of Jakku civilians as he is marched onto Kylo Ren’s own ship, and he knows: this is part of the galaxy’s unforgiving song.  
  
Like his mother before him, he sings a silent prayer to the stars as he steps aboard the ship.  
  
His prayer is answered, not by the stars, but by someone else entirely.  
  
When ~~a stormtrooper~~ Poe’s savior says _this is a rescue_ Poe thanks his lucky stars that he is a pilot. He thanks his lucky stars that someone is brave enough, and good enough, to break him out, despite being raised as a stormtrooper.  
  
The stars say: _this is not our song. This is not a tale we have woven. Your being a pilot is not luck. You, meeting him, is not luck. It is all part of something bigger. This? All part of the galaxy’s song. We are here to watch._  
  
For the first time, Poe Dameron is thankful that the galaxy sings a song. He realizes: this is it. This is what we get. The song is cruel, yes, but the parts to it do not have to be. I am taken prisoner and tortured in cruelty. I am saved out of the goodness of a man’s heart. The song is cruel, yes, but the parts to it do not have to be.  
  
The pair escapes, and Poe’s savior says his name is FN-2187.  
  
Poe calls him Finn.  
  
The stolen TIE-fighter takes a direct hit and crashes.  
  
***  
  
Poe wakes up far from the crash. Beneath him, he hears the song of the sand. It pounds a low, quiet tune. It tells of battles above and upon it, crashed ships, orphans, scoundrels, droids, families, all scurrying across it, living, existing, being. Above him, he hears the song of the sky, wavering as it thrums in his ears. It is many noises at once, and it tells that it sees and knows all. Faraway, he hears the song of the stars, still invisible in the daytime. It says: we are here. We see you. We are with you. We will protect you. It says this not just to Poe, but to anyone who can listen.  
  
All around him is the sound of life.  
  
All around him, the song of the galaxy, the complicated tapestry of thousands of different songs woven into one, plays on. It is cruel, and yet it lets a girl steal a ship and escape her captors. It is merciless, and yet it spares a woman’s life during battle after battle. It is unyielding, and yet a mother can protect her baby boy. It is infinite, and yet time seems to stop in a moment of pure joy or grief. It is awful, and yet.  
  
Poe Dameron hears this, and he knows that he must stand. He must make his way back to the resistance base on D’Qar, and find Leia, and his droid, and Finn. He does not trust the songs, but knows why his mother sang them. He sings a silent prayer to the stars.  
  
The stars blink back.  
  
He stands.  
  
The galaxy sings, and the song carries him home.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed, please leave comments and kudos if you can! and if anything needs correcting please tell me. thank you!


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